Books For Photographers, Fans

December 05, 1986

It`s that time of year again. Knowing how important finding just the right gift is, we`ve compiled a list of ideas for lovers of photography as well for photographers. We`ve sorted through the year`s arrivals to find the items that most impressed us for their special qualities: books that open doors to better understanding, magazines that offer fresh vistas, videos that provide moments of truth and warmth and gadgets that really help.

Images, artists

``On the Line: The New Color Photojournalism,`` by Adam D. Weinberg

(Walker Art Center, $29.95). This slim volume was produced in conjunction with an exhibit, which unfortunately is not touring in Chicago. Any student of photojournalism can learn from the work here as well as from the essay that discusses the color concerns of a new generation of photographers--that stands on the line between the art photographers and the press photographers of the last 25 years. Color for artists such as Mary Ellen Mark, Susan Meiselas, Alex Webb and Harry Gruyaert is inseparable from the subject and their use of color is bringing a new consciousness to photojournalism. SOURCE: Marjorie David.

``Ansel Adams: Classic Images,`` photography by Ansel Adams (New York Graphic Society Books, $29.95): One of the pleasures of this book is the invitation to sit for awhile and simply enjoy Ansel Adams` photographs. A giant in the young art of photography, Adams` images span a 60-year career and were chosen by him for an exhibition. The quiet still lifes, the portraits of awesome peaks, the play of light upon surface, the minutiae of life revealed in gradations of gray are ample evidence of Adams` precise craftsmanship. An introductory essay by James Alinder offers a brief biographical introduction to the artist.

SOURCE: M.D.

``Arnold Newman: Five Decades`` (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, $49.95): Five decades of creativity and still questing, that`s Arnold Newman. This is not a summation, not a retrospective in the sense of something finished, not an end to a well-defined period of a unified body of work (he says). Arnold Newman, who pioneered the environmental portrait, is still cooking. Newman is a master, using space, objects, subjects to create an image that becomes a collaborative portrait. These are images to be studied for the sense of the photographer as well as the sense of the other. (And these are some monumental others: Igor Stravinsky, Piet Mondrian, Truman Capote and more.) Newman`s genius has pushed the boundaries of portraiture. ``Five Decades`` represents the core of a retrospective exhibition that will tour the country, including Chicago, through 1989. Many of the 114 laser-scanned duotones are previously unpublished.

SOURCE: M.D.

``Margaret Bourke-White, A Biography,`` by Vicki Goldberg (Harper & Row, $25.95): The biography of a fascinating woman photojournalist who stands tall in her field. She dared to climb the peaks of Manhattan as well as into the depths of gold mines in Africa in pursuit of her subjects.

SOURCE: M.D.

Pantheon Photo Library, three new titles in the series: Duane Michaels, W. Eugene Smith, Bruce Davidson ($7.95): These small, tantalizing books offer a survey of the works by each of the artists. Printed in France on quality stock.

Todd Webb`s dramatic landscapes and scenes at O`Keeffe`s Ghost Ranch in New Mexico bring the artist to life even in pictures where she doesn`t appear. The book includes several portraits of O`Keeffe and candids of her as she walked the canyons and sagebrush in search of the sunbleached branches and skeletons that are so much a part of the world in her paintings. The large-sized reproductions printed on a matte finish paper enhance the lyrical quality of the pictures. The book was published before O`Keeffe`s death this year and is now a poignant memoir to a most American of artists. SOURCE: Abigail Foerstner.

``Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape`` (Sierra Club Books, $35): Photographer and mountaineer Galen Rowell`s newest book probably qualifies as the most opulent how-to volume of the year. The book combines magnificent color reproductions with a running commentary on how Rowell captured action shots, dramatic mountain sunsets and the ``alpenglow`` color shifts that give a disarmingly mystical quality to this view from the top of the world.